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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

A casual glance at either the print or social media would
lead one to conclude with absolute certainty that the world is eating more and
more sugar and consequently is getting fatter and fatter. No one could dispute
the latter with very clear objective data to show that global obesity rates are
experiencing a relentless rise. The former part of this apparent ‘fact’ is very
much out of kilter with the objective data. In a review of the changes in the
percentage calories from sugar over recent times based on national dietary
surveys, it is clear that there is no relentless rise in sugar intake globally
and, if anything, there are clear signs of a drop in sugar intake over recent
times. The following data has been extracted from a major review of global
patterns of sugar intake based on national diet surveys[1]:

Country

Survey 1

Survey

2

Sugar calories

(%)

in survey 1

Sugar calories

(%) in survey 2

Sugars defined

as:

Australia

1983

2011/12

17.0

18.6

All

Austria

1998

2012

9.0

9.0

Sucrose

Denmark

1995

2003/6

9.0

9.0

Added

Finland

1992

2012

9.0

9.2

Sucrose

France

1993/4

2006/7

12.0

14.4

Sugars

New Zealand

1989

2008/9

6.6

8.2

Sucrose

Norway

1997

2010/11

9.5

7.2

Added

Sweden

1989

2010/11

7.7

9.4

Sucrose

Netherlands

1987/8

2007/10

23.6

18.0

All

UK

2000/1

2011/12

13.5

11.6

Added

From the above data, it is clear that over the last 30 or
more years, the intake of sugars, however defined, has not shown any concerted
global tend to increase. The above data are for males and the female data is
pretty similar. Some countries have data on both sexes combined and again they
show no upward trend: Ireland constant at 16.6% of calories from non-milk
sugars over the period 1997-2006 and the USA with values of 13.9 and 11.8% of
calories from added sugars over the period 1971/75 to 2007/8.

The most exact analysis of trends in sugar intake comes from
my alma mater at Sydney University
led by Professor Jenny Brand-Miller[2].
These authors looked at four independent data sets to examine the changing
patterns of sugar intake in Australia. The authors point out that obesity
continues to rise in the Land of Oz: obesity rates have quadrupled from
childhood into adulthood for both males and females with Australia and New
Zealand exhibiting the largest single absolute rise in obesity since 1980 in a
global comparison such data[3].
So what of their sugar intake?

The Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the UN
measures the “disappearance” of sugar in countries worldwide which takes overall
national production data, adds imports and subtracts both exports and non-human
use. If used wisely and for time trends only, such data can be very valuable.
In Australia, such data shows a decline in per capita intake of sugar from 152 grams
per day in 1980 to 127 in 2011. Using similar techniques, data from the
Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a 17% reduction in apparent sugar
consumption from 1961 to 2011 (139 to 115g/hd/d). Data from Australian National
Nutrition Surveys, which are based on surveys of actual sugar intake at
individual level, also show a decline in total sugar intake, from 115 grams per
day in 1995 to 105 in 2012. Given that among the devils of sugar sources, those
from beverages are considered as the Satanic level, it is interesting to note
that such Satanic influences have also fallen over time. No matter how defined
(soft drinks, sugar sweetened beverages, sugary products, sodas plus juices etc.),
the time-related decline of sugar intake in liquid form is still obvious. Data
from industry sources were also made available to the authors and once again, no
matter how defined, the same pattern of a decline in solid and liquid sugar
intake is seen. For example, the % of
children classified as “consumers “ of sugar-sweetened beverages declined from
about 65% in 1995 to 25% in 2012. Energy from sugar-sweetened beverages plus
juices in children fell from an average of 9.2 % of calories in 1995 to about
5.5% in 2012. All in all, there is not a shred of evidence from the either global
overview or the Australian deep-dive into sugar intakes to suggest any rise
whatsoever in sugar intakes.

Why therefore do we suffer the avalanche of data telling us
about the poisonous nature of sugar and the wicked damage it is doing to the
health of our children? In my view this is a consequence of our post truth era
where post-truth is defined by The Oxford Dictionary as: ‘An adjective relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective
facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion
and personal belief’. You see, sugar was extracted on the back of the
global slave trade and is now used by corporate food giants to manipulate the
food supply to make a tasteless mechanically derived ultra-processed foods into
ones which are rendered hyper-palatable with copious levels of added sugars. Gurus
from California with impeccable medical backgrounds have shown conclusively
that sugar is toxic, the new tobacco in fact. Tax the damn thing and be done
with it! That’s the emotional argument. It wins out every time against the
peer-reviewed data cited in this blog. As a life timer in nutrition I have come
to accept this and other such misuse of nutritional data and its adaptation by
populist experts and governmental departments. But at least I can rant on my
blog. It’s cheaper than therapy!!!

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"Ever seen a fat fox ~ Human obesity explored"

About Me

I graduated from University College Dublin in 1971 with an Masters in Agricultural Chemistry, took a PhD at Sydney University in 1976 and joined the University of Southampton Medical School as a lecturer in human nutrition in 1977. In 1984 I returned to Ireland to take up a post at the Department of Clinical Medicine Trinity College Dublin and was appointed as professor of human nutrition. In 2006 I left Trinity and moved to University College Dublin as Director of the UCD Institute of Food and Health. I am a former President of the Nutrition Society and I've served on several EU and UN committees on nutrition and Health. I have published over 350+ peer reviewed scientific papers in Public Health Nutrition and Molecular Nutrition and am principal investigator on several national and EU projects (www.ucd.ie/jingo; www.food4me.org). My popular books are "Something to chew on ~ challenging controversies in human nutrition" and "Ever seen a fat fox: human obesity explored"